Sanchez's no-nonsense approach upsets Portuguese

Northern Ireland's fighting spirit and physical style in gaining a 1-1 draw against Portugal on Tuesday night was condemned yesterday by Luis Boa Morte, echoing his coach Luiz Felipe Scolari's comments that it was "a very vulgar match".

Warren Feeney grabbed an equaliser after Stephen Craigan's own goal, but Boa Morte, the Fulham captain, took exception to the whole-hearted approach taken by Lawrie Sanchez's side at Windsor Park.

"It was a game with a lot of tackles and you know that people could have got injured," Boa Morte said. "They could have avoided some of the stuff they put into the game. But they didn't. However, it was a positive test for us."

Sanchez, the Northern Ireland coach, is offering no apologies for being difficult opponents. "The rules of football are that you are allowed to tackle people," he said. "It was pleasing to round off the year by competing well against one of the game's big hitters."

Sanchez believes that the future is bright ahead of the 2008 European Championship qualifiers, the draw for which is being made in January.

"The result against Portugal has left the supporters feeling we are moving in the right direction. The fans are the litmus test of how the team is doing. If they don't come then you're are not doing very well. If they come, they must be coming for a reason and we are filling Windsor Park.

"To get sell-outs is a tremendous achievement and I am now looking forward to the draw for the European Championship.

"It is nice to see young fresh faces in the squad, who are proud to play for their country. I believe we have the players who can continue to upset some of the top teams."

Sanchez is holding talks with Howard Wells, the Irish Football Association chief executive, today with no matches planned now until March. On the agenda will be the possibility of trying to widen the net and draft in players with family connections to the province.

Sanchez said: "I am having a meeting with Howard and we will talking about how we can improve.

"Part of that discussion we be trying to strengthen the pool of players available to us. We do need to have as big a pool as possible if we are to move on."